Practice Blog - #1: A Pause on the Diving Board

I will be honest. I am both excited and nervous about expressing my ideas in blog format on the internet. The process for me is like those summer days hanging out with friends by the poolside. While listening to the radio on the ghetto blaster attached to the extension cord at the back of the house, I am enjoying my frosty glass of iced tea with a wedge of lemon on the rim. Mother brings out a platter of cut-up watermelon for us to share and persuades us to take a dip…

Like-wise, I am at the edge and ready to jump into my role as an educator. My challenge as a teacher will be to educate myself on the benefits of using information and communication technology (ICT) in the classroom, but also to provide an understanding of the broader picture of ICT in the world. I pause before jumping. From the back of my mind rises the article in The Guardian newspaper: Extreme Surveillance Becomes UK Law with Barely a Whimper.

“A bill giving the UK intelligence agencies and police the most sweeping surveillance powers in the western world has passed into law with barely a whimper, meeting only token resistance over the past 12 months from inside parliament and barely any from outside.

The Investigatory Powers Act, passed on Thursday, legalizes a whole range of tools for snooping and hacking by the security services unmatched by any other country in western Europe or even the US.

The security agencies and police began the year braced for at least some opposition, rehearsing arguments for the debate. In the end, faced with public apathy and an opposition in disarray, the government did not have to make a single substantial concession to the privacy lobby.”

With swimwear on, and enough prodding and cajoling, I dive in with barely enough space on the low pool-side diving board to land my infamous jack-knife dive. Now, I can join in the fun swimming underwater and practicing crazy synchronized swimming moves.